


Beautiful Day

by afteriwake



Series: A Thousand Suns [12]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-16
Updated: 2012-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 10:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So far, this has been the happiest day of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful Day

**Author's Note:**

> Answering (possibly for the second time…not sure) **kathy20121** ’s prompt of Ishida/Orihime and “Perhaps embracing weirdness is not that bad.” After writing “Danse Macabre” I wanted something light and fluffy and fun. This is set just about a month after the shinigami arrived, but a little later than “One Step Closer” and “Danse Macabre.”

“I’m in the mood for…a milkshake!” Orihime said with a smile, turning to Ishida. They were huddled under an umbrella in the pouring rain, his uniform jacket draped around her shoulders and clutched in her hands. It had been a sudden shower, but Ishida was always prepared. His father had once compared him to an American Boy Scout. He hadn’t taken it as the pointed commentary it was.

“Inoue-kun, it’s freezing out here,” he said. It wasn’t freezing, per se, but the rain kept whipping onto his shirt because he was tilting the umbrella to keep her dry, and the wet fabric plus the wind evoked a chill in his bones.

“Well, can’t you make them at home? Then you can have warm tea and I can have a…strawberry banana passion fruit blueberry milkshake.”

“Do you even have all that fruit at home?” he asked.

“Well, no,” she said. “But I have strawberry banana yogurt, and blueberry yogurt. Won’t yogurt work?”

“Only if it’s frozen,” he said.

“Oh,” she said sadly. “Never mind then.”

He paused, and she had taken two steps out in the rain before her grabbed a hold of her shoulder and pulled her back against him. “Some of that fruit is expensive, but if that’s what you really want we can make it.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes wide and her smile wider. She leaned in and kissed him softly. “Thank you.”

He blushed slightly and looked down. “Well, it’s just food,” he said. Seven months of dating and he still stammered like a little boy when she kissed him in public. Eventually he knew he’d get over it, but for right now it embarrassed him. And she didn’t even realize it; she usually just kissed him again because he looked so cute, and he got redder, and it became a vicious cycle to the point where he’d dodge her and she’d get a hurt look on her face, and he’d apologize and change the subject. When it was just them, in the comfort of her home, there wasn’t a problem. But in public, he regressed to a young age and he hated it.

“Hey, Ishida-kun?” she asked, using a finger to lift his chin up. “You look cute when you blush.” He just blushed harder in response, and she laughed warmly. He braced himself for a kiss, but it didn’t come. Instead she draped the jacket back over his shoulders and stepped out from under the umbrella. “You should dance in the rain sometimes, like they did in that old American movie. I like to do that sometimes.”

“Aren’t you worried about catching a cold?” he asked, shifting his hold on the umbrella to put his jacket back on, not taking his eyes off of her.

“Nope,” she said with a smile, and she twirled in the rain. Then she extended her hand to him. “Come on. I’ll race you to the store at the end of the block.”

“You’ll get soaked if you’re not under the umbrella,” he said.

“A little rain doesn’t hurt,” she said. “But if you’re worried, I’ll hold the umbrella while we race.”

He looked at her, and her outstretched hand, and thought. He was always so prepared, so calm and cool and collected. Even dating Inoue-kun, the most beautiful, special, unpredictable girl he knew, he never let loose. Maybe he should. Maybe he should do something out of character, something that would make her smile. Slowly he moved the umbrella out from over his head, handing it to her. She smiled, then quickly pulled it over her own head. “Okay. Ready when you are.”

“One…two…three!” she said, and she was off, him only a few steps behind. He caught up quickly, though, and just edged her out to the door of the store. She took a few deep breaths, then pulled him under the umbrella with her, a smile on her face. “You won, Ishida-kun. I knew you were fast but that was really fast.”

“That was kind of fun,” he said with a grin. “Want to go get the items for your milkshake now?”

“Why don’t you go in and get them? I want to look at something next door.”

“Okay,” he said, stepping out from under the umbrella and going in. It didn’t take him long to gather what he needed, but there was a long line at the counter. As he stood there he felt the water seep into his bones and the frozen yogurt he had bit into his hands with their chill. He knew he might regret running in the rain, but putting a smile on her face had been worth it. So much had been worth it since he’d gotten the nerve to ask her out. He couldn’t imagine his life being any better, really, and no cold would dampen the way he felt about her. Finally he was done, and he looked outside to see Orihime standing in the rain with two umbrellas. “You got another one?”

“It’s fun sharing an umbrella with you, but you get all wet when we do,” she said, handing him his old umbrella. Her new one was pink with kitties on it, and he felt it suited her. “And you spend so much time looking out for me that maybe I should look out for you, you know?”

He tipped his umbrella back so he could step under hers and stay covered, and for the first time since they’d started dating he kissed her in public. She kissed him back, and then smiled when she pulled away. “That was nice.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” he said, pulling his umbrella back over his head. “I could do that more often.”

“I hope you do.”

\--

An hour later they sat in her apartment, a tall glass full of the residue of her milkshake on one side of her glass-topped dining table, and a mostly empty teapot and empty cup on the other. He watched her suck the last little bit of the milkshake out with a straw. “You liked it,” he said with a smile.

“Next time no blueberries,” she said. “I think I’ll try blackberries instead.”

“You have some on your lip,” he said, reaching over and wiping some milkshake off her top lip.

“Thank you,” she said. “I have a question for you, Ishida-kun.”

“Yes?” he replied.

“Do you think I’m weird?”

He didn’t even need to think. “I think you’re special and unique, and you like some weird things, but you’re not weird.”

“Good,” she said with a smile. “Do you think I want you to be weird?”

“No,” he said, a little confused this time. “Inoue-kun, where is all this coming from?”

She frowned. “Today Chizuru-san got mad at me and called me weird and said I make you do weird things and if she was dating me I’d be normal and I’d be happy.”

“You’re not happy?” he asked.

“No! I am!” she said, her eyes wide and her hands waving. “No, Ishida-kun, I’m very happy. I didn’t think I could ever be this happy. I love you and I’m glad we’re dating.” Then she clamped a hand over her mouth and if it was at all possible her eyes got even wider.

“Do you…mean…that?” he asked quietly, reaching over to pull her hands from her mouth. He held them tightly as he waited.

“Yes?” she squeaked. Then she cleared her throat and looked down. “Yes. I mean, yes, I mean it. I do love you.”

“I love you too,” he said. “I have for a long time, I think since even before we began dating.”

“Really?” she said, gripping his hands tightly. Her eyes were watery, but he knew they were tears of joy. “I’m so glad you know. If I had known before I would have told you a while ago.” She got up and stood next to him. “I spent too much time thinking about Kurosaki-kun and you were waiting and then he told me he didn’t like me and I was heartbroken. I thought you were just there to be a good friend and then you asked me out and I only said yes because I wanted to be nice, but we had so much fun and I kind of starting falling in love with you on our first date, but I didn’t know it until everyone else showed up and I could talk to Kuchiki-kun about it and she helped me see it really was love.” She took a deep breath. “You loved me before?”

“I wouldn’t have gone to Hueco Mundo if I didn’t,” he said, solemnly. “I knew you had your heart set on Kurosaki, but I thought if maybe we could just get you home I could convince you that I was worth a look, too. I wanted you here and safe.”

“Oh, Ishida-kun,” she said, tears falling down her cheeks. She pulled him into a hug, burying her face in his neck. He held her close until she pulled away abruptly. “I shouldn’t be crying. I’m happy! This is no time for tears!”

“It’s okay,” he said with a grin. He took one hand and wiped away the tears. “It’s nice to see happy tears sometimes.”

She smiled at him, then leaned in and kissed him softly, a lingering kiss. When she pulled away again she looked at him. “Could I ask you a question?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod.

“Will you spend more time with me? I mean, a lot more time? Not all of it, because I want you to do stuff you like, but…you and your father don’t get along, and it’s almost time for us to graduate and we’ll be out on our own anyway, and I don’t like being here all by myself and you’re here a lot and…” She stopped. “I’m rambling, I’m sorry.”

“Are you asking me to move in here with you?” he asked.

“Yes, I am,” she said with a smile.

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Oh,” she said, her smile slowly slipping into a frown.

“Not until we get married,” he said with an intense look. “If you want to, I mean. We don’t need to rush or—“

“Yes!” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him close again. He could feel tears on his shoulder again. “I thought you wouldn’t want to do that so I figured asking you to live with me would be a good first step,” she said as she pulled away. “But I do want to marry you.”

“Would your aunt give permission?”

She nodded. “As soon as I graduate. Maybe even before. She doesn’t want to have to keep supporting me through school.”

“My father has already said he would much prefer me to be married and living here then the situation we’re in now. He finds it distasteful,” he said quietly. “He says I am a bad example and a shame to the family name because I sleep here more than I am at home.”

“But you sleep on the couch!” she said, shaking her head. “We never do anything more than just kiss sometimes.”

“He doesn’t believe me when I tell him that,” Ishida said with a shrug. “But it doesn’t matter. I can support us with the job that I got a few months ago while you go to university, if I can get more hours.”

“But what about you?” she asked. “I thought you wanted to go to university.”

“I can pass.”

“No you can’t!” she said vehemently, shaking her head. “You go to school and I will work more hours at my job. I can make more money, I know it.” He opened his mouth but she clamped a hand over it. “Don’t argue with me about this.”

He chuckled, the sound muffled by her hand, and she slowly moved her hand away, looking at him I confusion as laughter spilled out of his mouth. After a moment he stopped laughing, but still had a smile on his face. “Maybe we can both work and go to school,” he said, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against hers. “But I want to marry you as soon as possible.”

“I want to marry you soon too,” she said with a smile. “We’ll make everything work. I know it.”

“I’m glad you’re so determined, because so am I.” He pulled away and looked at her, grinning, and he saw her grin widen. Then he leaned in and kissed her again, the sound of pouring rain on the windows the soundtrack to the happiest day of his life.


End file.
